BEIJING, June 18: A four-member delegation of Chinese experts will arrive Pakistan Monday to finalize deal for import of Pakistani rice. During its weeklong stay in Pakistan, the delegation will visit rice growing areas and rice-processing units, collecting some relevant information. "This is a final requirement to start importing the Pakistani rice," official sources said here on Saturday.
The visit is also a follow-up of the trade protocol signed by the two countries during the recent visit to Islamabad by the Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao. Talking to APP, the sources expressed the hoped that the import of the Pakistani rice would start by September this year.
The Pakistani long-grain rice could find a big market in China, since its quality was better than the rice that was being imported from Thailand and some other countries, said Shahid Mahmood, Commercial Counsellor in the Pakistan Embassy. "Our negotiation with the Chinese side proved very productive and encouraging to introduce the Pakistani rice in the local market as soon as possible," he added.
With the improvement of living standard in China, there is a growing trend to eat imported and good quality rice.
China purchased 731,598,419 tons of Thai rice worth $246 million last year. It was also importing it from Vietnam, the US, Japan, Myanmar and Italy.
The Chinese government announced recently that the import of rice would further increase, due to decline in its production in the past five years. China's total rice output has been falling since 1999, along with a drop in the per-hectare yield of rice paddies, said Cheng Shihua, head of the China Rice Research Institute.
Rice has remained a staple food for over 70 percent of China's population and accounts for 40 per cent of the country's total cereals consumption.
A Pakistani trader and Managing Director Midtrans Commodities International Mohammad Yaseen said that opening of China's huge market to Pakistan's rice would give a tremendous boost to the agriculture sector.
He underlined the need of organizing exhibitions and launching promotion campaign for familiarizing the country's products in the Chinese market. Many Chinese companies were willing to enhance trading with Pakistan, especially of food products including mango and orange, he added.--APP